“The way in which the (racial identity) question is phrased is problematic on a number of levels. As far as I know, there is diversity in all racial, ethnic, and nationalist groupings … Forced choice questions often do not really get at respondents’ true beliefs and perceptions,” she contends.
Dr. Juan Battle, a professor of sociology at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York and Hunter College, doesn’t see the racial identity question as problematic.
“I think people read it and understood it. And they thought of their own experience and answered accordingly. … And I would argue that the survey clearly speaks to issues of class,” he says.
Battle says he believes that overall the Pew survey sought out complexity in the Black community at a sufficient level.
“I like the fact that they were willing to look at diversity within the Black community. All too often when we talk about the Black community, we speak of it in very monolithic terms — one group, one experience. The fact that they were willing to recognize that there maybe some variance going on here is actually a good thing,” he says.
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